Favors
by purple-koneko
Summary: Ellen asks Keats for a favor and he grudgingly agrees. It's harder than it appears and shenanigans ensue. Eventual relationship between the two and eventually inner thoughts will be exposed. Trust me this will be good. Rating may go up. Depends. updates will probably be pretty far between because of who I am as a person. probably the longest would be several months. Suggestions plz
1. You want me to do what?

**A/N: Please leave suggestions and whether or not you like this. If no one likes this, I won't continue it as there would be no point. But I am planning on this having multiple chapters and maybe small little tiny mini arcs almost. The updates will be slow for now because 1)I'm still pretty bad at writing in my opinion 2)I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I have a faint idea but I'm really writing as I go 3)I have very little motivation. so plz motivate me if you want to see more. Please don't be mean but I appreciate your opinion. Thank you.**

The trill of his phone interrupted Keats from his magazine article. Giving a grunt of displeasure at being disturbed he reached over his piles of papers scattered about his desk he gripped the handle and brought the receiver to his ear. "Unknown Realms, Keats speaking. And who may I ask is this?" he introduced tiredly into the receiver scratching the side of his head.

"Hey Keats, it's Ellen. I wanted to ask you for a favor." A small feminine voice answered from the other side of the line.

"Ellen. Last time I did a favor for you it turned out to be more than I bargained for and I have actual work to do. Not that you don't regularly interrupt me anyway." The last time Ellen asked him to do something for her it involved an unplanned incarceration of them both, an escape with the aid of Belgae and a Malion, and ended with an emergency grocery run for a certain box of teabags that was the original mission in the first place. It was one of his least and most favorite memories.

"You're still hung up on that? I thought we had moved on," Ellen's voice floated through exasperated.

"Why yes Ellen. I do still hold that against you. Did you really think I would forget those dungeons? They were horrid and it was your fault I had to be in a cell at all. If anything I should be asking you for a favor because you owe me big." Keats scowled.

"My goodness Keats! Honestly I just wanted you to do some housesitting for me and I would have paid you but now I see I'll have to find help elsewhere." Ellen's voice rang through snappily. There was silence for a while before Ellen continued sullenly,"…Except I've already looked about and no one seems able to do it who fits my criteria."

Curious Keats pressed, "Criteria? And what would this 'criteria' of yours consist of?"

Ellen paused, setting him on edge. ' _This can't be a good sign,'_ he thought dryly. ' _Although most things pertaining to Ellen tend to end in me receiving the short end of the stick.'_

"Well… I kind of need someone who knows about and is comfortable with things concerning the Netherworld." She paused hesitantly. "I have a pet… and it's a baby Treant. She is a cutie-pie and her name is Willow. I only need-"

"Stop. Right. There." Keats ground out. "You mean to tell me, that not only have you adopted a folk but that you have brought it into the living realm? What were you thinking? What do you even feed it?"

Ellen hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean to! She just followed me out and I didn't notice until it was too late. I wasn't sure what to feed Willow at first but I've figured it out. Just water her with about one and a half gallons of water a day and feed her half a cup of fertilizer in the morning and evening. See? It's not that hard and you know half of what I would have told you for housesitting for me."

Sighing heavily, Keats pushed back in his chair running his hand through his disheveled hair. _It doesn't sound that bad. It seems pretty straight forward actually._ Watch the tree puppy… thing, bring in the mail, record who called while she was gone. Plus it had the added bonus of free living quarters while she was gone. _The 'favor' she asked for last time seemed pretty great too. Until I ended up in a cell._

While Keats was having this internal debate Ellen had babbled on trying to convince him. "-and you can use my tea packets, although I might be running low. Scratch that, just please. I need your help. It's only for little-"

Against his better judgment Keats relented with a defeated sigh, "Fine." The line was silent for several long and worrying moments. "Ellen? You still there?"

Stunned, her voice came back over the line, "oh, uh, yeah. Just… surprised I guess. I had an entire speech ready to try to convince you and I only got through the first few lines before you agreed. I just thought it would be harder considering last time I asked for a favor."

"You're paying me to do this right?" Keats asked looking for confirmation.

Giggling slightly Ellen answered, "Yes Keats, I'm paying you. Want to meet up in the pub this Tuesday at noon? That way we can talk about the details over lunch. Then I can take you to my house to show you where everything is and you can meet Willow. Does that date work for you? I can always change it; I'm pretty flexible with my schedule."

"No, Tuesday at noon is fine. See you then." And with that Keats hung up without waiting for Ellen to say goodbye.

 **A/N: Follow and PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT. A thousand blessings on those who do leave a comment.**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Pub

**A/N: The beginning of this came pretty easily but the last half was kind of forced out. I just wanted to finish it, sorry if that affected the story or how it sounds in some way. I just had a total blank by the end so I kind of cut it short. I was hoping to get to Ellen's house but I drew out the pub a bit too much.**

 **Once again, this doesn't have a beta so please point out any mistakes you see and I will fix them. Leave a review/comment please. I worked pretty hard on this even though it is very little.**

 **It was a good distraction from life. It's been a bit hard as my uncle died yesterday night and he was really cool. This is for you Mark. Even though you know nothing about Folklore, Keats, Ellen, or even Fanfiction; this is for you. Thank you for being so cool. This is getting too long but without further a do, here is chapter 2.**

Tuesday was a drizzly day as usual. Doolin tended to be slightly misty with a hint of the sun poking through the grey clouds weakly. Keats sighed heavily. Usually he enjoyed the weather, not too sunny but not dark either, but today it was inconvenient. He just wanted to get this over with and waiting for Ellen in the inconsistent drizzle wasn't what he would describe as his preferred afternoon. Ellen seemed to be taking her time and Keats could only entertain himself for so long. He couldn't blame Ellen entirely as he had shown up to the agreed meeting place earlier than they had agreed. But still. She was taking a while.

Keats glanced at his watch noting that it was barely ten past noon. Just as he was about to start pacing out of impatience he heard the unmistakable sound of Ellen shouting his name from across the small lane. "Keats! So sorry I'm late, Willow would not leave me alone. I hope I didn't keep you waiting for long?"

Keats grunted, "Let's just get inside, we can talk more there." Ellen smiled and nodded moving past Keats to make her way inside while he held the Pub's door open. They sat down at a corner table by one of the few windows, Keats taking the seat that was nestled into the crook of the walls.

Settling herself into her seat Ellen thanked Keats again, "Really Keats, thank you so much. This means a lot, especially considering last time I asked for a favor."

"Don't remind me." Keats responded dryly. "Why do you need a house sitter anyway? If I recall, you don't exactly have anything that demands travel in your life. You are still doing that artist thing right? I thought you did that from home."

Ellen's face lit up with pride as she answered smugly, "Yes I still do that 'artist thing' from my house but I have just been invited to an artist's conference in Dublin provided by Visual Artists Ireland."

"Impressive. Looks like you're moving right along," Keats complimented.

Her smile got impossibly larger, "Thank you Keats, it's not often you actually give me a compliment."

Keats hummed in response and waved a waiter over ordered some drinks for them. "What else would you need me to do? Obviously, there's your mail to take care of and phone calls to your house."

Nodding Ellen added, "I would need you to take care of Willow. Also I ordered a package and realized too late that I wouldn't be there to sign for it so you'll need to do that." Ellen's slim finger tapped her chin as she thought. "Oh and I'll need you to send out a painting for me that someone ordered. I have the address and packaging all ready but they wanted it to arrive on a specific date so you'll have to send it while I'm gone. I think it was something about surprising their fiancé with it."

The waiter came over with their drinks in hand and Keats accepted his with a brow raised at Ellen. "Hmm. That's quite a lot. I hope you have all of this written done somewhere?"

Ellen smiled at the waiter and thanked him for her drink before she replied, "Of course. I'm not as forgetful as you might think."

"Yes, just like how you forgot you needed to sign for your package coming in the mail?" Keats reminded her dryly.

The girl's cheeks heated spectacularly at that and she ducked down a little behind her glass on the table. She mumbled, "It's not like I don't make mistakes sometimes."

Snorting at her excuse Keats drank some of his beer. "How much are you paying me and how long am I house sitting for?"

Ellen became fidgety answering, "Well, I'm paying you around $40 a day."

Keats eyes narrowed beyond his glasses. "How long am I house sitting for?"

"…" Ellen looked down at her lap as she mumbled incoherently.

"Ellen." Keats warned.

"… about a week and a half. I know that's a long to house sit but I'll be paying you $430 by the end of it." Ellen replied rushed. Sighing heavily Keats downed the rest of his beer and grabbed his coat as he stood up from his chair. "Where are you going? Keats?" Ellen called after him as she hastily moved to get her things.

"Your house, where else would I be going? You need to show me where everything is and what I need to do for Willow right?" He called over his shoulder as he exited the pub with Ellen hurrying after him with a cheerful grin.

 **A/N: remember to review/comment. May you have clear skin to those who do.**


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